Somebody let the zombies out, and they're on a serious rampage to get rid of the survivors! Shelter is a post-apocalyptic strategy game from Survivalist Games that distills all the running, shooting and getting your brains eaten action from surviving a zombie raid into a card game. It's surprisingly challenging and calls on more skill than just being able to place a few cards on the table. And just because zombies busting down the doors happens with cards doesn't mean it's any less thrilling.
The game takes place on a map where you can accept missions by tapping colored pins. Enter a duel and you'll see a spread with the zombies on the top and the survivors below. The gist of these battles is you're in a shelter and the zombies are trying to get in. By playing cards from your hand or using cards from the board you can barricade the doors, reinforce the structure, or do some good old fashioned zombie splattering. Turn them into gray goo and you can call it a win. But if the zombies deal you 50 damage, it's game over.
The artwork in Shelter looks as if it were ripped straight out of a graphic novel, which is a fantastic fit for the game and setting. The difficulty slowly increases as you work your way through the map, forcing you to be more frugal with your actions and refine your deck to a true zombie killing machine. Er, defending-from machine. The game's a little slow to begin, especially with the lengthy tutorial text that keeps popping up to explain every detail about playing, but it soon picks up and will have you hooked for hours. Despite one or two awkward interface moments, Shelter is a challenging and creative card-based strategy game that's sure to give you your zombie fix!
NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on the iPad 3. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.
I like it, but I'm not sure it plays quite the way the tutorial claims. It's a little confusing.
Update